I was able to get a good rest for the most part, but when I woke up on Sunday morning I was too tired so I went back to bed for a bit. I felt much better-rested so that helped a lot. I tossed a few last-minute things into the car, said goodbye to people online, said goodbye to Jules, and finally, bid farewell to my parents. They were both very supportive of me (and have been this whole time) so it was a happy parting. I drove into town for some travel snacks, gave Jon a call to say goodbye, then headed out sometime after 1PM.

I got to Eau Claire, WI, by suppertime and refueled and had some dinner at Dairy Queen. I was able to push on to Fargo, ND, by the end of the day. I got a cheap motel room with free wireless (yay) so I was able to talk to people online for a bit before bed. I had trouble getting to sleep (still jetlagged) but eventually I got some rest. I was awoken to a call from Jules on my cell phone (he called me many times each day just to see how I was doing, which was so incredibly thoughtful and sweet, and what kept me sane during those long hours alone.)

I had planned on leaving for Seattle Wednesday or Thursday but unfortunately I got pretty sick and had the runs badly for three days. I decided I would wait until that weekend to leave instead, which would give me time to recover a bit and see some people one last time before I took off. That ended up working pretty well, as I was able to see Dave and Russ once more and help Jon move into his new place. Jon, Brian, and Martha also came over to my place that Saturday night and helped me pack my things into my car. It took a bit longer than we anticipated because we had to arrange things securely on my roof rack. I had completely underestimated the number of things I could pack into the car so it turned out I was able to bring along all my DVD and CD cases as well, which made me pretty happy. All of my clothes fit inside the rack bag on top of the car and Jon was able to secure my easel up there (for the most part….which I’ll get to in just a moment.) I was a bit concerned the car would be riding too low with all the weight in the back but it ended up being just fine.

Jon suggested I go for a test drive with the car weighted down to make sure everything was going to stay put and whatnot. I could see out the rearview mirror, which was amazing! Anyhow, by the time we got it out on the road it was dark, and Jon followed behind me towards the highway. As I accelerated, part of my easel on a hinge flapped up straight into the air (unbeknownst to me) and Jon spent a lot of time trying to get my attention. Finally I pulled over and he helped me take that part off, then we got on the road again. Everything else stayed in place, so that was cool.

When we got back to Jon and Brian’s old apartment, we waited for Russ to arrive and then we had one last meal at Applebee’s. I headed home for my last night in Wisconsin.

I feel really frustrated and bored right now. I agreed to sell my PC to my parents since they needed a new one and I didn’t really want to take the entire tower with me, so I’ve spent the last while swapping hardware around and reinstalling Windows. I haven’t really felt like doing much of anything tonight as I got up late this afternoon and have felt pretty meh since then. Windows Update is being a tool right now so that’s annoying me, but luckily I’m not letting it get to me too much.

I guess the main reason I feel out of sorts right now is because I’m so eager to get on with my life and I’m a bit trapped here until I finish sorting things out. I’ve gotten many of my things switched over to the new address and whatnot, as well as cancelling the credit cards I don’t use, which is definitely a step in the right direction. I’ve been meeting up with lots of people for one last goodbye, which has been really nice (it’s wonderful to know people still care about me even if we don’t see each other much anymore) but the rest of the time I’m just sitting around waiting…sorting and packing. That gets pretty tedious as one might imagine. I just want to get on with it, you know?

My sleep schedule is still completely messed up, but oh well. I decided it’s best not to fight it since I seem to get sick when I go against what my body wants. I want to be well enough to travel since I’m doing it alone, and if that means sleeping during the day, then fine. That’s just how it’ll be. It’s not as if I won’t have a messed up sleep schedule when I get to Seattle anyhow, what with visitors coming from near and far. :D

I miss Jules a lot every day, unsurprisingly. I’m feeling a bit more distance now between me and Australia, as my trip is beginning to fade into memory. It doesn’t hurt as much being away from him as I’m feeling the reality of my life here, and I know this is where I need to have my head right now if I’m to make this great transition. I know it’s going to get tough once I’ve moved and the time difference is 15 hours and we both have jobs. But we’ll deal with that once we get to it.

I’m not too concerned about finding a job right now, but I don’t look forward to having to redo my resume and do all that paperwork and whatnot. Oh well. I’ll spend some time getting to know Seattle first before I get into that, so I’ll still have some time to relax and get myself settled.

I think I’ll make myself some food now…appropriate given it’s nearly 10:30 PM. (right.)

It’s strange saying goodbye to people I care about. I’ve been spending the last week meeting up with friends for one last time before I go out to Seattle, and while I’m with them I realize how much fun I have with them and how much I enjoy their presence, and only after we part do I think to myself, “Wow, I won’t see this person for months or possibly longer…” It’s sort of shocking.

I’ve felt pretty useless the last couple days actually. I haven’t done much to speak of because I’ve been trying to regulate my sleep schedule again and I’m trying to get over being sick as well (I think my body is rebelling now.) There’s so much I’ve wanted to do (creatively) but it would be ridiculous to start something now just before I leave.

Oh, as it turns out I’ll be making the drive by myself. I guess that’ll be a good thing…in fact I’m pretty excited about it, but it’ll also be quite difficult and tiring. But I’ll have Will to greet me when I get there and I’ll be able to call him along the way to make sure everything’s fine.

I just feel sort of calm at the moment even though there’s a lot going on. I feel jealous that Jules and Will have their project to keep them occupied since I really can’t do much at the moment. I’ve been helping Jon move his things to his new apartment bit by bit and spending quite a bit of time with him, but mostly we’ve been playing Katamari Damacy 2 on his newly chipped PS2.

I don’t think Jon wants me to go, and I guess I don’t blame him. I’ll be really sad to leave him since he’s been such a wonderful friend to me for so many years, and besides that, he’ll be alone here. I wish I could do something to help him out beyond what I’ve been doing. *sigh*

It’ll be nice to get into my new life in Seattle. From what Will has told me it sounds like I’ll love it there. Plus, there’ll be plenty of visitors as soon as I arrive, including several people I’ve known for years but never met in person! :D

Hopefully I’ll be leaving this weekend or earlier, but it really depends on how I feel.

My favorite photo of us together. *happysigh*

I’m doing a lot of reminiscing today since I was home alone most of the day and didn’t get much of a chance to talk to Jules (and when I did I wept pretty much the whole time.) I feel like writing out a few random memories I have from my stay in Australia since I didn’t get a chance to write much about daily occurrances when they happened.

Obscure: The Musical
“This rusty key must open some old door around here.”
The last time I was in Aus, I saw a game called Obscure on the shelf and was interested in it as it was a co-op survival horror game set in a high school. I saw it again in Oshkosh just before I left for the trip and Jon advised me to research it before I bought it. When I got to Aus this time I suggested we look for it…and we could find it absolutely nowhere in Perth. Then, when we’d nearly given up hope, we found it in the video store in Dunsborough! We played through some of it and noticed that the characters often said the same thing, over and over again. Soon we were quoting the lines to each other, which eventually evolved into singing them in Broadway musical form. I remember browsing through a Dick Smith Electronics shop with Jules, singing our very own Obscure: The Musical.

A Wool Coat in the Dark
It was the night I was to leave Perth…Jules’ house was dark, and I was making my way from the lounge room to his bedroom to collect some of my things. I was feeling around, trying to avoid the furniture in the hall as it’s quite easy to bump into stuff. I thought I felt a coat as I brushed my hands through the air but it was dark and silent so I kept going until I reached Jules’ room. When I turned on the light, Ross stepped out of the dark and started laughing at me. He’d been there waiting in silence. I smiled at him.

Gi-gohn-tic
Jules was sitting on his bed and I was standing next to him talking about something and I slipped and said “gi-gohn-tic” rather than “gi-gann-tic.” It surprised the crap out of me and caused Jules to laugh hysterically. I then proceeded to point out that you can’t flip an Australian coin and call heads or tails because there isn’t always a head on them. So we flipped a quarter instead.

Socks
Before we left for Dunsborough, I kept mentioning to Jules that all my socks were gone. His parents had told me to toss my dirty clothes in the hamper so they could wash them for me (so incredibly kind!) but somehow the socks hadn’t gotten washed. Jules’ mum felt so bad about that she started fussing up a storm and eventually brought me an armful of her own socks for me to wear. The fussing continued over the course of several hours, and remained a constant theme even after we got back from our week away. On the day before I left she came in Jules’ room with an armful of my washed socks and had a nice chat with me. She is such a cute, sweet, and kind person. I love her so much already.

Fat man with his kids and dawg
We watched the Apocalypse episode of Family Guy three times while I was there, as well as seeing part of it playing in Empire Toys while I was looking at those X-Files action figures. The section with Randy Newman singing about what he sees caused an *insane* amount of singing quotes to occur throughout my time there, to the point where that would be all I’d think about in the shower *every day.*

Well, second best anyway. Being with Jules was the best gift I could have ever asked for. But seeing these things nearly made me crap my pants. Thank you, Julian. :D

This jetlag is really bad. It’s nearly 5AM and I can’t sleep. It’s starting to get light out in the east already. ;_; I miss Jules terribly…this is going to be so difficult. It is so nervewracking not knowing what’s going to happen when…and not knowing the logistics of how we’re going to make this work. I am confident that everything will be fine but I’m also just as sure that it will be painfully difficult. Please send us some positive energy in the hopes of something amazing happening.

Was so desperate to talk to Jules I stayed up until about 3AM, slept till noon, then got up for a bit so I could talk to him again. He was feeling totally shite so we didn’t talk long before he went to bed…and then I did as well because my eyes were puffy, swollen, and sore and my head was pounding. Nap lasted until 6:30PM. ~_~ This will be a hard cycle to break. Oh yeah, and I haven’t eaten a thing today and I’m not hungry. o.o I guess I’ll head over to Jon’s, maybe driving will wake me up. (Haven’t done it in a month!)